Senator Steve Daines got a little bit ahead of schedule last week and exited the back door of Al’s Cycle in Hamilton at about 1:15 p.m., the publicized time of his arrival. He arrived at around 12:15 p.m. and did make some remarks and conduct a short question and answer session with some of the early birds, which included a couple of Ravalli County Commissioners, Chris Hoffman and Greg Chilcott. Commissioner Jeff Burrows showed up a little before the appointed hour and missed Daines’ remarks but he did have a word with Daines as the senator headed for the back door.
A lot of people had shown up to greet Daines out front, many with signs expressing support for wilderness and opposition to Daines’ proposed legislation that would lift the current Wilderness Study Area designation from the Sapphire and most of the Blue Joint WSAs, opening them to multiple use like other non-wilderness national forest lands. Several people expressed disappointment that they didn’t get to have a word with Daines or even hear what he had to say.